The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1881.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 91, 31 October 1881, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1881.

k correspondent in our columns tlio CIW day showed very conclusively that Mr Renall did not understand the iUbUit question, Very many of us itH in the Same position as Mr Renall —tin only distinction being, perhaps, that while we on our part freely admit Our want #f knowledge he, on the other hand, is blissfully unconscious of his ignorance, It is necessary that iittlers should look rather for guidance On this Question to those parts of New Zealand where the pest has existed for a longer time than here—where the struggle against it has been more protracted and severe than in this neighborhood, and where settlers have had ircven years' experience of fighting the enemy against our three or four seaionV warfare. Even when we try to gain 8om« information from such superior sources we find that all that lias been done so far has been merely experimental in its cliavaceer—that tie treatment of the rabbit difficulty is yet undefined—that we are underestimating the task that lies before us, and that the evils which have already Pardoned, all classes of settlers in the past ar« likoly to be multiplied in the future unless a determined and united, effeii be made to .'check the plague.' People are gradually becoming.acoli. ijaatiwd to rabbits—they hare ceased 'tjo calcwjuto' the amount of grass they c6n«ume and the deteriorated value of landed properties. A man may lose a pounds in. a day by some wjwfrwiture and be overwhelmed with ljhe calamity, but if this low be spreader a twelvemonth by a swarm of rabbity, consuming on an . average a halfpenny worth of grass per minute, he fail* to recognise the magnitude of his-loss, and endures with equanimity wh»t is in reality a .serious disaster, We. have before us a report of a meeting' which was recently held in the prorince of Marlbrough—a rabbit heiid centw-rand .from it we glean one or . two items of interest which may

in the work of destroying rabbits, On tbe subject of jjoisonhig we loam that when rabbits refuse tlie prepared grain they may be tempted to eat it if the phosphorous and sugar in the mixture be increased. The weak point in poisoning is said to be that though the bucks take the grain freely, breeding dops will frequently not touch it at all, Wire netting—not to keep rnbbits out, but to coniine thorn till tliey aro destroyed—is recommended, but the expense of this remedy must prevent it from being general y adopted. It has been reported that the Wuirarapa dogs have generated ft worm which proves fatal to rabbits, and our Murlbrough friends are beginning to make enquiries after our dogs. Cats are regarded with favor in the Marlborough district, and ferrets are extremely popular. Settlers say that the cry of ferrets attacking lambs is absurd, and they are pretty unanimous in recommending that after the poison lias done all it can reasonably be expected to do, the work of the ferret should commence.